The Prince and the Slave: Book Three

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"I don't understand why you can't tell me-"

"You know perfectly well why I can't, William."

"No, I don't. That's the entire point!" William cried exasperatedly at Abey, running his hand through his hair.

They had been spent the previous day travelling through the forest, trying to get as far away from the village as possible, and then spent the night camping amongst the trees. It was then that the nightmares had come back with a force.

Over the weeks since Abey had returned, William had often woken in the night, hearing her fearful cries and feeling in her jerk and twitch in her sleep, her face screwed up in either pain or fear, or both.

Though quite bad at first, over time they had started to fade, and soon the nightmares seemed to be completely gone - only the occasional muttering escaping Abey's lips. But during the past few nights, they had returned with a vengeance, and William had had to physically shake Abey awake the previous night, her cries were so violent.

He knew without doubt that the route of her demons lay in the five long weeks she had been separated from him, and he also knew that the only way he could help her was if he knew exactly what had happened to her, what she had been through.

"William, we've been going over this for hours. Can't you just leave it alone?" Abey pleaded, turning to look at him, obviously exhausted.

"No, I can't." William replied seriously, taking a step towards her and rubbing her shoulders. "I want to help you, that's all. But to do that I need to understand-"

"But I'm fine!" She interrupted defiantly, her tone making William think she was anything but fine. "And if you did know then you'd understand why I can't go through it again. And I can't tell you of all people." She turned back around and started to walk on.

"For God's sake, Abey, I'm your husband! Do you not trust me?" He shouted after her, making her stop and turn to face him again.

"Do you not trust me?" She retaliated. "Can't you just realise and accept that I'm not going to-"

"No, I can't accept that-"

Their voices grew louder as they began to overlap each other, the argument becoming more heated as they went.

"William, you can't expect me-"

"You're not the one who has to hold you every night as you scream at invisible demons I don't even understand-"

"And maybe you shouldn't understand-"

"How can you-"

"How can you-"

Both William and Abey fell silent and turned to look through the trees to their right, the sounds of rough laughter and quick footsteps coming their way. William grabbed Abey around the waist and flung her behind a tree, pressing himself flat against her and peering around the thick trunk, just as two men - both in scruffy clothing and black cloaks, swords hanging from their belts - walked into the spot the couple had been just seconds before.

"Yeah, apparently some Angrokorian fellow. Said 'e thought they were someone else, so of course 'e then found 'imself with a knife to 'is throat and all 'is possessions taken." The first man explained, his voice deep and gravelly. "Nice of 'em to let us have them."

"Well you know what they say, one man's treasure is also my treasure." The second man laughed, holding up an expensive looking bag, obviously full of some poor traveller's possessions, having recently been robbed.